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Published: March 14th 2009
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Destination 2: Rio Dulce & Livinston The next morning saw us taking the first bus out of Flores for the Rio Dulce or the'Fonterras'. I was excited about the getting there mainly because for me - it signified the Caribbean, my first chance to get a glimpse of it.....
What of Rio Dulce? Well its a one horse town, minus the horse. It is essentially one street - that takes one blink of the eye to complete. There are some accommodation options on the 'city´side but it´s worth your while to find a lancha to take you to an establishment somewhere along the river itself. We went in search of the Tica travel booth (thanks Lonely Planet) to try and find our accommodation and ended up selecting a bungalow at the 'Hacienda Tijax´about 1 minute away by lancha. I overheard a girl mentioning that it may have been an old rubber plantation at one point in its life, who knows - but it was a very nice place - with wooden bungalows set amidst a very jungle like location - complete with overgrown trees, banana & mango trees aplenty. Despite this setting, oif course are all the trappings of modern
Waiting for our ride....
On the jetty waiting for the lancha to take us to our hostel day life - complete with Wi-fi access in the bar - I hate to say it, but how fab!!! (I was able to catch up on my blogs of course!).
I´m certain I have spoken about this in the past - but what is with the weather? I´m thinking that a land covered with banana palms, mango trees and coconuts - should be HOT!!! - But noooo that is not the case. I was cold, cold I tell you! I walked past the pool - thinking, yeah right - can I have another jumper please. I was so close to the Caribbean - and yet asking for warmer weather - Wazz up!! I wasnt going to get my blue skys and piña coladas here I´m afriad - I would have to keep heading south.
We decided to base ourselves in Rio Dulce for 3 days - mainly as a chance to relax and also as a base to explore Livingston from. The next day we went in search of Finca Paraiso, a working finca about 1 hour from Rio Dulce by bus (1 hour because the roads are so bad - not beacuse it is far the main
Our hostel
Just a short boat ride away from the main road strip). Its easy enough to get to - we simply walked down the road and were quickly jumped on by bus drivers going in that direction (In Rio D - these buses are essentially old beat up Toyota tarago vans that are surpringsly able to carry a hell of a lot of people..).
We met a rather strange American on the bus along the way...Very tall (so he wouldnt have enjoyed the ride) and gangly. He didnt speak very much Spanish - and with what Spanish he did know, he was keen on discussing the 'United Fruits´political issue with the bus driver - or In other words, do you have a problem with us Americans taking over your fruit industry situation?. Thankfully he thought better of his questions (or maybe it was because he couldnt figure out how to say it in Spanish) and thankfully kept quiet for the rest of the journey.....What can you do but sigh in wonder!!
That aside - we made it to the Finca. Unfortunately, we should have tried to get there much earlier that our 1pm arrival because the last bus that would have taken us back to Rio D was scheduled
Rio Dulce
The sundog cafe to leave at 4pm. It wouldnt have given us enough time to explore all of what the finca had to offer (a beach, hot springs and the finca itself). We didnt stop for lunch - and made a mad scramble directly to the hot springs - essentially a waterfall from the hot spring falling into a cold spring. Sensational. We jumped into the water, which was cold and filled with fish (I know this because they like to nibble...ouch). We quickly swam towards the waterfall - steaming hot water, just like an open air hot shower - and just sat there getting drenched, having our hot water massage and steam bath all at the same time. I couldn´t have asked for more. There was no point going exploring - Instead I just stayed there for full three hours till it was time to turn around and go home. In case you are wondering - that night I slept like a baby!! A must to visit if you are in the area.
The following day was our chance to finally dip our toe in the Caribbean - or so I thought. We caught the first collective lancha of the day
at 9:00am. These lanchas are moored along the Rio Dulce and ferry passengers to & from Livingston, stopping and/or slowing down along the way to see the main sights between the Rio D & Livingston. (Not surprisingly, They´re a lot cheaper that the private lanchas that call out to you as you walk down the road - and they show you the same things to boot!).
The ride there was pretty easy going, with some pretty tranquill scenery and lots of bird sightings - with the only problem being the rain that descended upon us as we made the journey. We eventually reached Livingston around 11am (I didnt think it would take that long) and immediately noticed the difference. It was like being in Jamaica, with the only difference being that they spoke Spanish. Rastafarian men walk past offering accommodation, women walk past offering to braid your hair - all in Spanish...Ya Mon!! And to make it even better....It was HOT, HOT, HOT on that island....
It must be a thing with the Rio D and 4pm - But once again we were not given that much time to explore the island because the lancha would depart from
Finca Paraiso
The most amazing waterfall in Finca Paraiso the dock no later than 3:30pm to return to Rio D. This meant, once again that we would not be able to make it to the beach (which was located on the other side of town from the mooring dock) and that I wouldn't be able to dip my toe in the Caribbean....😞. Hindsight is a wonderful thing - and it would have been great to have had the chance to stay on the island that night instead of returning - but as we were leaving at 6am the next morning, maybe it would not have been a very good idea in the long run.
We didn´t get a chance to have breakfast that morning - so by 12ish I was famished. We were told that Livingston was expensive because it imported most of its food from the mainland - and they wern´t wrong. We found a cute little eatery, that according the the book served hearty (and cheaper) meals than those around - Ít wasnt that cheap (but hey this is still Guatemala not the middle of London), so for 90Q (11USD) I ordered the local favourite 'Tapado´, a stew made from coconut milk, plantains & fresh seafood.
Finca Paraiso
Here's Jen lying against the rocks soaking it all up When it came - Wow! I had a whole crab, a whole fish and an assortment of clams & prawns. It was absolutely one of the best meals I have had in Guatemala so far. That done I went in search of the next local treal...a ´Coco Loco' a fresh coconut filled with rum. OMG!! I died and went to coconut heaven...(If you recall my earlier blogs of the Philippines, I went a bit coconut crazy...´Coco loco´- how appropriate!). We found my coco loco in another eatery called ´Bahai azul´ - My coconut when it came was filled with fresh coconut juice, rum & icecream.....I mean really, what more did you need (other than a spoon!!!!). Jen didnt really like it......(but then again there really is no accounting for the taste sensations of the Danes...salty licorice...What is that?).
(Geoffrey, I thought of you the entire time I ate my food. There would have been no-one else who would have appreciated that meal more than you!!! Hugsxx)
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